


As Long as You're Mine

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:25:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7567099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven can't sleep. Something's on his mind. What could Pearl have meant by, "now I have to take care of her son"? // No pairings, post-Mr. Greg, just kind of fluffy angst I wanted out of my system. Family shenanigans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Long as You're Mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmugLemon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmugLemon/gifts).



Having an ear for music was something of a curse.

 

Steven lay awake long into the night after their return from Empire City. Pearl’s song was stuck in his head—had been off and on since the drive home. He knew most of the words, but some lines stuck out, hurt like berry thorns pricking him when he went exploring.

_Who am I now in this world without her?_

_Petty and dull with the nerve to doubt her._

_What does it matter? It's already done._

_Now I've got to be there for her son._

 

The teenager sighed, a huff more than anything, and rolled onto his right side. It shouldn’t bother him. But something about that…

 

Did Pearl feel obligated to take care of him?

 

What about the others?

 

Sleep wasn’t coming to claim him, it seemed, and Steven slipped out from under his covers, climbing out of bed without a sound. He sighed, looking at the clock. The Big Donut wouldn’t be open for hours, and he didn’t know that he wanted to sit around waiting for it to open.

 

Lion wasn’t downstairs, and Steven made his way to the refrigerator with a faint frown. At least he wouldn’t have to fight for his 4AM snack.

 

“Steven?”

 

Wide dark eyes looked up, startled to see Pearl on the couch. “Pearl?” he asked, knowing the answer, and on opening his refrigerator he got a full look at the other Crystal Gem. “You weren’t watching me sleep, were you?”

 

He knew the answer—he hadn’t been asleep—but he could think of no other reason that Pearl would be in his room at night.

 

“Oh no! No, Steven, I… I stopped that,” Pearl managed an awkward laugh, “I was just thinking. The dark helps, sometimes. My room is too bright.”

 

“Oh.” That sounded reasonable enough. His mother’s room could change things like that, but the few times he had seen Pearl’s, it always looked the same. Bright glowing water basins floated in the air, with light streamers on the ceiling that looked like aurora borealis. Steven claimed a slice of pie for his snack, then, daringly, moved to join Pearl on the couch. “Want any?”

 

“Euh… thank you, Steven. But no, it’s all yours,” Pearl said, blanching a little at the idea. She liked the process of making pie much more than consuming any of it.

 

Steven expected as much. He scooped some pie into his mouth, enjoying the chilled fruit filling, even though it was cold. Cherry pie was better that way, he reasoned.

 

They sat in silence while Steven ate, and after a few moments, the boy put his unfinished slice of pie aside. “Pearl?”

 

“Yes, Steven?”

 

“Um…” here he floundered, torn between wondering and letting the answer stay a mystery. He wasn’t supposed to have heard her singing, after all, even if both he and his father had. Steven sighed, glancing up to see Pearl looking back at him. “Is it… do you not like having to raise me?”

 

“What?!” Pearl gasped, and her surprise nearly sent her toppling off of the couch. “Steven, how—why would you—“

 

“I just… I heard you,” he said, “You said it like… like you were obligated. _Now I have to be there for her son_.”

 

Hearing her words echoed back in Steven’s voice made Pearl’s heart ache tenfold. “No—Steven, I—I didn’t…” she floundered, flailing her hands. “Steven it isn’t…” Pearl sighed heavily, looking away. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

 

“But it’s how you feel,” Steven said sullenly, and the taste of cherry pie that lingered on his tongue was suddenly bitter and unappetizing. He looked down at his stomach, at where his Gem barely peeked out from under his pajamas, feeling the beginnings of tears at the corners of his eyes. “It sounded like you don’t want me.”

 

“Steven…” Pearl started, blinking rapidly against tears of her own. She reached for him and faltered at the last second, hands awkwardly hanging in the air between them. Words left her mouth in a senseless rush; “No, no, _no, no_ , Steven, never, I could never—you’re wonderful, and perfect, and it’s not…! I want you! It’s not that!”

 

Steven peeked back up at her, brows furrowed, tears pooling in his dark eyes, and Pearl abandoned caution to pull him into a tight hug. Steven’s chubby arms wound around her back, and Pearl pressed her face into his hair to hide her own tears.

 

“But you said…” Steven started, and a hiccup lodged in his throat, caught his words, and he pressed his face into Pearl’s bony shoulder instead to cry quietly.

 

“Ssh, ssh, no,” Pearl whispered shakily, trying to keep her voice steady despite her tears. “I know what I said. I know. Oh, Steven, it’s not that… I just… I don’t deserve you, Steven. You’re _theirs_. I don’t have a right to call you mine. That’s all I meant…”

 

The boy looked up sharply, brows furrowed, face blotchy from crying. “I’m whose?” he asked, confused. First to come to mind were Garnet and Amethyst, and that didn’t make sense; Pearl had done just as much to raise him as the other Crystal Gems.

 

“Theirs,” Pearl said again, stroking Steven’s curly hair, inherited from his mother, and holding him tight. “Greg’s and Rose’s.”

 

Steven did pull away then, reaching up to catch Pearl’s face in his hands, cheeks damp with tears. “Pearl… I’m yours too,” he murmured, sniffing piteously. Pearl looked ready to pull away, and Steven didn’t let her, leaning forward to press his forehead against her Gem. “And Garnet’s, and Amethyst’s… you all raised me!”

 

“But—“

 

“No buts,” Steven insisted, mustering up a smile. “You’re all my family. I don’t think… I mean, I never met mom, but she’d think so too, right? We’re all a family. I’ve got three moms instead of one.”

 

Pearl stared for several agonizingly long seconds, then smiled shakily. “You’re right,” she whispered, leaning forward to hug him again. “Of course, you’re right.”


End file.
